23

Oct

MGP derides Sopte on lure of GTDC chairmanship

PANAJI
Senior leader of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party Ramakrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar on Monday said the revelation by BJP’s new entrant Dayanand Sopte about his imminent appointment as the chairman of the Goa Tourism Development Corporation should be believed only when it turns into a reality.
Dhavalikar said that he is “not interested in such announcements”, and has got other important issues before him including the issue of speed governor for vehicles.
The speed governors are giving more than 5,000 local taxi owners a nightmare as the road transport offices have not issued them fitness certificates due to which they cannot operate their vehicles.
Sopte, a former Congress MLA, has recently been inducted into the Bharatiya Janata Party,
Dhavalikar, who holds the transport portfolio in the state government, is presently in New Delhi to attend a meeting of the ministry of road transport and highways to be held on Tuesday in the national capital.
He is expected to discuss the issue of the speed governors at this meet.
Speaking to ‘The Navhind Times’ on Monday, Dhavalikar said that one does not really know what the situation was when Sopte got the assurance from the BJP on chairmanship of the GTDC in exchange for his entry in the BJP.
“In politics there is no credibility to ifs and buts, and an assurance comes into reality only when a person actually receives what he has been promised,” he retorted.
Dhavalikar said the BJP has not discussed with the MGP, the GTDC chairmanship-related assurance given to Sopte.
It is learnt that Minister for Tourism Manohar Ajgaonkar, who belongs to the MGP, has met Dhavalikar and requested him to take up the GTDC chairmanship-related issue with the BJP.
The rivalry between Ajgaonkar and Sopte is well-known, and Ajgaonkar is very much comfortable with Nilesh Cabral, the Power Minister, who currently is the GTDC chairman.
When contacted, Ajgaonkar told this daily that Sopte’s announcement is weird.
“You should ask the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar if it is really true,” he quipped.